Different Setting, Different Age, Same Terms
by FerretSong
Summary: Lydia has plans for her before-college-summer, but due to her father's work and Delia's art craze, her summer would be spent in the bright Aloha State. When she arrives there she finds that her father had chosen to ruin a building with symbolic meaning to a group of ghosts. There's only one bio-exorcist for the job...
1. Chapter 1

**Chapter 1:**

Lydia growled in anger, how she hated that woman: Delia Deetz deserved some hell again. Just when she had found friends, she raised her grade and she was planning on spending her last summer in happiness before college with the Maitland's, Delia ruined it with her idea of family vacation. Actually, both Delia and Charles were the cause of this problem this time. Her father's job led him to a new location and an excellent investment and business opportunity. Then, Delia added on to that with a chance at getting her art noticed in the place that seemed farthest and the complete opposite of her now location in Winter Rivers, Connecticut.

Hawaii…

It was full of bright festive colors, a beautiful ocean breeze, and worst of all no Maitlands. Her moving boxes sat unattended to and scowled upon. Lydia had her bedroom window open to let in some cool air to sooth her anger. Calm rain fell slowly outside, soothing some of her anger. A knock was heard at her bedroom door.

"Lydia, may we come in."

It was Barbara and Lydia knew it. She stood up from her desk and opened her door. Barbara and Adam entered slowly and softly. Lydia closed the door so their conversation wouldn't drift downstairs. No reason for Delia and Charles to know what their daughter thinks of them if she starts ranting.

"Lydia we know your upset over leaving Winter Rivers and us, but think of the bright side." Adam suggested softly.

Lydia frowned. "What bright side, the one that's going to be glaring into my window for the next four weeks?"

Barbara smiled slightly.

"You'll have plenty of photo opportunities, a chance to see the ocean, and maybe you'll find some island romance." Barbara said.

Adam shook his head and looked at Barbara. "Now honey, Lydia will be a good girl and stay away from those boys."

Lydia laughed. "I'm going to miss you guys."

They exchanged smiles and Lydia hugged Barbara. She hesitated, and gave Adam a small hug. For some reason, there was still tension between them.

"Well you still have two more days with us and we can do plenty into that time, but first you might want to start packing before Delia discovers you haven't done any."

Lydia grimaced. "Don't remind me. I have an idea; do you two want to help? Some ghostly powers could really speed this up." Lydia stared up at the two with pleading eyes begging them to say yes.

"Now, Lydia that would be irresponsible, because in college you'll be living in a ghost free dorm and you'll have to do cleaning and organizing yourself." Barbara scolded. Lydia rolled her eyes and Adam added on. "But we would be happy to put on some motivational music to help you clean, maybe it wouldn't be so bad."

Lydia smiled and shook her head.

"If you two turn on music then everything in this room will start floating up into the air."

Barbara and Adam exchanged glances, and smiled. Their powers had grown stronger, and often when they played music through their powers, it had other effects.

"Well, when you're finished with your chores then maybe we can talk for a bit." Barbara said opening her door, Adam already stepping into the hallway.

"Maybe, as soon as Delia stops yelling at me to do something." Lydia said wistfully.

Barbara closed the door with a sad smile and Lydia surveyed her room, wondering where to start.

...-:-:-*-:-:-….

"Four fucking horrible years in that stinking hole and your telling me that I don't even get a fair say in my punishment!" Betelgeuse shouted, slamming his fist down onto Juno's desk.

Juno looked up at him with mild interest.

"Your punishment was ordered from the higher ups, they're tired of you just wondering around, settling in other ghost domains until they foolishly call you out. Now, you're going to have to haunt one place for one hundred and twenty-five years or more. It depends on how long it takes you to mellow out and become more civilized." She stated, lighting another cigarette and pressing it to her lips.

Betelgeuse growled. He was ready to rip the cigarette out of her mouth and stuff it in her eye socket.

"Settle down! I'm not some beginner ghost, with beginner powers, and I never have been. My powers need space and if I roam around in other ghosts' domains and they fail to protect themselves so be it."

Juno's eyes narrowed. It was easy to forget she had her own extreme powers and had a high ranking. Piss her off, and your punishment worsens. "Listen here, you're lucky they haven't taken it to the extremes, and exorcized you. Your bio-exorcist gig can keep its little upstanding, but this time you'll be dealing with it all from one location. If some idiot ghost randomly calls your name then you can go haunt that place till hell runs loose. But till then, you'll stay in your location, scare off mortals with beginner powers and—"

"BEGINNER POWERS, HELL NO!"

"Till you're called out for an exorcist gig, you'll have beginner powers. Your haunting style will be similar to when you were my assistant." Juno said.

Betelgeuse slunk into the chair, he angrily puffed out air.

"Which job, the one where I had to convince future suicidal teens not to kill themselves or the one where I had to help wimpy ghosts learn how to scare mortals out of there house."

"Yes, you'll be helping out ghosts that don't follow the handbook and never will due to their, uh, let's say beliefs." Juno uneasily suggested.

Betelgeuse glared at her.

"Are they atheist, German, Nazi, Voodoo Witch Doctors, because hell I am not working with voodoo people; it took me a year to restore my head back to normal."

Juno's eyes wondered back to her files and paperwork, her eyes twinkling with slight humor.

"They believe in Voodoo all right, they also believe that some mortals are psychic."

"Aw hell, you stuck me with crazy people that are tribal." Betelgeuse whined.

Juno scowled in annoyance.

"Close, Hawaiian's." She told him.

Betelgeuse groaned in and leaned back in his chair, his eyes closed.

"Hello Hawaii. Goodbye to everything enjoyable. Hawaii, where there will be no booze, no babes, no fun without powers and all." He muttered under his breath.

Juno smiled. "That's exactly what the Higher-Ups wanted for you."

…

**Hey I decided to give this idea a shot after watching the movie and reading the idea for the original script. Sorry if this is like someone else's, I just wanted to give it a shot. IT's short because its a prologue, but next time it'll be longer.**

**Edited 7/1/2013: Grammar fixed.**


	2. Chapter 2

**Chapter 2:**

Her last two days in Winter River passed quickly. Lydia would miss the Maitlands and all of the familiar places in the town. Now, she would be living in tropical paradise with a wonderful ocean view and plenty of surfing and sun. It sounded miserable. She had been lectured by her father and Delia about her behavior, not that she listened to much; after all she was eighteen, a legal adult, her parents telling her to be good didn't seem important to her.

"Now dear, you can get some lovely sunshine and tan that ivory skin of yours to something more natural. Then you can hang out with some teens your age that are nowhere near as depressing." Delia had told her in the car on the way to the airport.

Lydia glared out the window at the passing scenery, her black skirt and blouse being worn defiantly, Delia had wanted her to where bright, happy colors.

"Listen to your mother pumpkin, you're an adult now and this dark Gothic life of yours needs to come to an end. Let Hawaii help you with that and you can take some brighter prettier photos."

Lydia had given her photos to the Maitlands as a keepsake and her cameras were ready for more eerie photos, not tropical ones.

"I like photographing what I want, and if you haven't realized that's my personality you're telling me to change." Lydia growled.

After that, the car ride was silent.

…

Betelgeuse glared at Juno as she filled out the last of the paperwork, but she hardly noticed.

"All I need is for you to sign here, your powers will be transferred into a _temporary_ holding box and will be completely returned to you when your sentence is up or when you are 'out'." Juno stated thoroughly.

Betelgeuse examined the grave dirt on his boots and then his horrendous nails.

"Nah, I would rather keep 'em. It makes me who I am ya know, like your filing and paperwork make you who you are."

"Geuse, that wasn't a request, it was an order." Juno scolded.

Betelgeuse started to grumble like a toddler. "Stupid government, stupid Juno, stupid simpletons, stupid kid, stupid Hawaii and all my bio-exorcist powers gone for years and years and years and years and years—"

"Geuse," Juno shouted angrily. "Sign the damn papers already so you can get the hell out of my office."

Betelgeuse stared at her and smirked. He leaned over and took the longest time in signing his name on the paper.

"Hey Juno, how do you make a cursive 'e' again?" Betelgeuse asked.

She looked down at the paper to see that his name was, despite the great deal of time he was taking to write it, was rather sloppy. Juno groaned in annoyance to see that he perfectly well knew how to write an 'e' as he had already wrote out b-E-t-E-l-g-E-u-S, just as he wrote it. Now he was really starting to act childish. Juno growled and took a drag on her cigarette.

"Do you want to be exorcized or put in a cell to rot?" She growled.

Betelgeuse smirked and erased his signature with what would be the last use of his main powers for a while.

"I wouldn't mind the rotting part a bit; I could do with a little more mold and grime heh, heh, heh." He chuckled.

Juno made a mental note to convince the superiors to make his next punishment a bath. She watched as he finished his signature the right way and then sunk back into his chair. This, actually, was not the first or the last time his powers were subdued. His aura dimmed for a second as a thin mist settled around him for a moment and then disappeared along with most of his powers. Betelgeuse flicked his wrist to see what at most he could do and a pencil that he might have been trying to burn only rolled over. He sighed deeply.

"So, uh, Juney bird, does that mean that I have to teach these tribal peeps how to scare without hardly any material."

"Exactly and here's the list of limitations that the higher-ups made for you to look at. Serve's you damned right to have these limitations."

Betelgeuse took one look at the list and he guffawed.

"I'm less powerful then a regular newbie!"

_Betelgeuse's Limitations_

_1. He shall not be able to touch a mortal or vice versa_

_2. He is seeable only to mortals that have the second sight_

_3. He is not able to afflict harm on a mortal_

_4. If the ghost's he are to teach inflict harm on a mortal he is to immediately tell a caseworker_

_5. His tactics to scare people cannot involve any possession._

_6. He shall not be able to work with electronics. _

_7. He is highly advised to avoid communicating with mortals._

_8. He shall not have access to anyone from his past and vice versa_

_9. He is not to use marriage schemes_

_10. He is not to make deals with the living_

_If needed this list will have add-ons, but it depends on Betelgeuse's attitude over the next 500 years. The following in affect can only stay in affect as long as he is still in weakened form. If mortal or ghost learns his name they shall be subject to a memory wipe._

Betelgeuse hated the paper, and the bottom line was in no way fair. Therefore, he will never find a way out and they could add on to avoid loopholes. Even if this document held an interference with his current loophole, he knew he could work around it. If a mortal learned his name, they would have to have their memory wiped, but what if they already knew his name? Sure, the no access to past people threw a roadblock in it. However, what if they did not try to reach him and instead found him.

It was a very slim chance, but if you are he… Any slim chance is a gaping hole left to plunder.

…

Lydia hated plane rides. Nothing says fun like flying thousands of feet up in the air over the ocean for more than an hour. Whoopee. Her stomach turned uneasily at being so high in the air and the worst part is Delia sat right next to her.

"Now Lydia in Hawaii I want you to get some sun. I mean ug, that deathly pale skin of yours is horrible. In addition, darling no more making friends with the dead, that has already gotten us is a lot of trouble. They are vile creatures. Especially that Beetle creature or whatever it was called." Delia ranted.

Lydia's stomach seized at the mention of Betelgeuse. For a few months that had all seemed so far away, unreal, but Delia had brought it all back with only half of his name. Curse her. That damned poltergeist is the last thing she needed to be reminded of. Although, she wondered what ever happened to that poltergeist. As anyone would be curious to what happened, her feelings were nothing more than curiosity… nothing more…

She turned her attention to the rest of the people on the plane. There was a mixture of children and adults on the plane must decked out in the utmost ridiculous touring outfits, all full of bright colors and floral patterns. Tourists had to be the most annoying thing in existence; they always wore the most ridiculous clothes thinking they could fit in. Her own clothes were dark, a red off the shoulder shirt and a black tank-top to accompany, a pair of black jeans, and combat boots.

Long since had Lydia abandoned shrouds, veils, and long black dresses and went for a more grown up look that still held a bit of dark morbid fascination. For instance, her outfit had a pair of skull earrings, a matching belt, and a ring, the ring that was from the almost-wedding ceremony years ago.

She had not gotten rid of it and when she was packing and rediscovered it. Buried amongst the too small of a wedding dress in the very back of her closet is where she found it. The wedding dress had not been packed, but the ring had. Her defense was it was rather pretty and matched with all of her clothes, especially the color red.

…

The airport was loud, obnoxious, and annoying. It was stuffy; there were chattering and whining children, and worst of all, _ghosts_.

Lydia could see them all, ones that died in a plane crash, ones that had died from airport mechanism, and ones that had died from who knows what, all roaming around the airport. At first, she tried to pretend she did not see them, that she was just as blind as everyone else to them. She failed miserably whens she bumped into one and apologized. Soon they were all crowding her, asking how she could see them, was there a way out, why did they have to wait so long, and how could they get rid of these people. It was miserable.

She could not talk to them without looking like a crazy lunatic that talked to herself, but it was hard to ignore them. It was blessed relief when they left, but at the same time - horrid doom. How was Hawaii supposed to cheer her up?

Her father pulled up in front of a building, the building in which he had thought was the best opportunity to gain money from. He was thinking hotels, attractions, and money. Delia insisted on calling Otho in for décor and she wanted to help with that too. Once again, Lydia saw the building as perfectly fine. It looked old and spooky, and more natural, unlike the other resort buildings around.

"Well, we'll be staying here tonight, as we are now the proud owners of it and we are going to be starting up on renovations tomorrow. This one's gonna be a real money maker." Charles contemplated.

Delia nodded in agreement, her eyes scanning all five floors of the beauty. Lydia stayed silent.

"Pumpkin you can take the attic, you like spooky things and that'll remind of you the Maitland's, right?"

'Gee,' Lydia thought, 'at least someone realizes they existed.'

"Sure." Lydia said.

They entered the building and Lydia was amazed, it was entrancing, but not completely right. Though it felt like she had forgotten something, something old and buried.


	3. Chapter 3

**Chapter 3:**

"Hello Hawaii!" Betelgeuse shouted as soon as he stepped into his new haunting gig. It was roomy enough, good amount of room. A few floors, plenty of staircases, plenty of railings, plenty of things he wished he could use, but couldn't, and best of all no mortals or ghosts and sight so perhaps he could have a few minutes to…

"I'll be out for a while Delia, don't wait up and I'm serious. Do not, under any circumstance wait up. I'll find my own dinner source okay, bye."

A woman/teen/Goth walked right through him with a camera slung around her neck. Black hair pulled into a messy ponytail, wan skin, dark circles under the eyes, and black clothes.

Betelgeuse took a second look and nearly tore his hair out.

"Dammit, you've got to be shitting me." Betelgeuse muttered.

He could deal with perky blondes, obese middle-aged perverts, screeching art lunatics (Delia), and whiny children, but her… she could see him and he would be reassigned. '_I'll just stay away; get them out of here real quick and…' _He paused in thought. '_What the hell am I thinking? That's free bait ready for the using to get my powers back. Just need to find a way to manipulate her.' _He floated through a few rooms, and found a nice isolated room and began planning.

…

"_So_, this is who that office bitch sent in to teach us." A young male voice taunted.

Betelgeuse opened his eyes. He had been in deep thought about his loopholes and strategies, before he was interrupted. One look at the small crowd of ghosts before him made him do a double take. Juno had said tribal, these people weren't native to Hawaii or tribal looking. Average clothes, scruffy chins, one goatee, and some harsh looking necklaces. His curiosity always came first to his mouth and he had no will power to tell him to hold back, so he let it go forth.

"How are you tribal?" He asked, his eyes scanning the group for the reason how. Maybe if you closed one eye, and looked at them upside down they would look tribal.

They exchanged looks as if they were confused. Then, they snapped their attention forward.

"Tribal, that's an overstatement." The one on the far left of the pyramid shaped group sneered.

"Our parties have been."

"Our times late at night have been wild-after some alcohol- when we crashed in bed with a chick-a-dee." A guy at the far back of the six ghosts remarked, insinuating something not kid appropriate.

All smiled and patted him on the back good naturedly before turning to the other dead man in front of them. A few glared, while others examined him with mild interest.

The one at the front stepped forward, sizing Betelgeuse up and down before speaking.

"Are you going to throw some book at us, and tell us to follow it like the last four _mentors_ did?"

Betelgeuse snorted. Hell, when was the last time he read the book, even when he worked with Juno, he never taught the newbies by the book.

"I'm here on punishment - also revenge - so books, nope. I play dirty." He stated.

The pack of guys exchanged looks and then they smiled.

"We do too…" The leader said.

Betelgeuse finally caught something unnatural in the leader's eyes, it was familiar, but he had no idea where from. It brought up an uneasy feeling; it was time for more probing. Ya gotta know who you're working with.

"Juno told me you were Hawaiian's, and no offense you don't look like 'em. I mean, they—nah you just don't look like 'em."

That got a round of laughter from them. Betelgeuse was a strange man, but a _pack_ of strange men, was something to fret about.

"Street name for our pack, we got it after our frequent visits to Hawaii, but we're usually travelers, no guy likes to linger."

That calmed Betelgeuse a bit; these ghosts and he would get along just fine. They would not care about anything on this island, they would have no attachments.

"I guess, we should answer the Voodoo question before you ask it, but just for warning the answer won't satisfy you." That got Betelgeuse's attention. He may keep _loads_ of information from Juno, but it never felt good having information kept from him. Funny, that will be his excuse when Juno asks him why he stole Lydia Deetz's file. "It's secretive among us, we told the first office brat that came here our ideas and ended up getting a lecture from the Queen Office Bitch, Miss. Gaping Hole in the Neck."

He wasn't even listening; he was contemplating what he would find in Lydia Deetz's file. Who knows, he might find something in there that would help him sleep at night. Wonder what that girl's secret was. Files had an up to date profile on everyone. It even updated itself. Was she still a virgin, damn he needed to read her file. Betelgeuse snapped his head out of the gutter.

"'Kay, I understand, and the psychic mortal thing that sounds a bit too…" Betelgeuse shook his head.

The leader pondered as if deciding an answer, before speaking.

"Nah, who wouldn't think there is something wrong with those mortals that see the dead. At first, we thought it was necromancy, but not all could raise the dead, and those that couldn't raise the dead seemed to know more than the average being when it came to what's going to happen."

The answer was given casually, but as a master of liar, he found it was still not completely true. He didn't push for the real answer though, not yet.

There were a few moments of silence, in which Betelgeuse picked some grit out of his nails, before the pack leader ghost spoke again.

"Hey, I didn't catch your name. Mine's Trevor, behind me to the left is Bane, right is Scrat, the far left is Greg, far right is Mark, and the guy in the middle back is Harlem."

Betelgeuse nodded only remembering the leader's name. It was the only name he needed to know.

"I have a little rule that keeps me from using my name, so just use whatever ya feel like using."

Trevor nodded and then shifted, one hand scratching his scruff.

"What rules do you have on you, you seem to have a lot of power, and that's just from the aura you give, so what rules were placed on it?" He asked.

Betelgeuse was grateful he could still juice the rules up and handed the sheet to the guy. Of course, they would let him juice the rules up. They just wanted to show off.

"Hey this isn't so bad, you can't _harm_ the mortals, but you can do other things to them and… what the hell."

The list suddenly lengthened.

_11. Harm includes mental, emotion, and physical, not kidnapping, capturing, holding hostage, or keeping mortal from freedom._

_12. NO weird and unusual mutations of inanimate objects._

Trevor took another list and handed it back to Betelgeuse who stuffed it in a pocket.

"Yeah, it can do that, it adds on crap to keep from doing anything."

Trevor scoffed.

"Dude, you have it tough."

…

Lydia was not enjoying the scenery. She had avoided being stuck on a tour of the island only to run into a bunch of shirtless hoodlums vandalizing the side of a magnificent abandoned building. They were spraying ridiculous things out with their spray cans. It irked Lydia off. She could always snap a few photos of them and if she was truly bored give them to the local police.

She lifted her camera and snapped a few, still far back and in the shade of the trees. Who knew how violent of people they were. When she lowered the camera her eyes caught another glance of the building and she almost gasped in awe, it would be nice to get a few inside photos of the building with it magnificent structures.

The hike around the building to find a back door, so she could avoid the boys, took a while and when she finally found a back entrance, she was soaked in sweat. There were a number of cobwebs, and a monstrous spider that rested in them that rested next to the door; nevertheless, Lydia snapped a photo of it before slipping into the open back door. A few steps in a rush of bats whirled past her fleeing to darker areas and away from the intruder.

It was as truly as dark and cryptic as she wanted it to be. The sky was probably already getting dark, but she had a flash light, a few minutes in here wouldn't hurt a bit. She thrust an arm into the small over-the-shoulder pack she had and fished out a flashlight. A single click and it was on. Lydia kept it down low, not wanting to disturb the bats too much.

There was quite the amount of debris, broken furniture, animal droppings, and a few (animal) skeletons too. Lydia stepped around most of it, and padded to a photograph of something. It rested on the ground in a broken frame and if it wasn't for the slip of her flashlight she wouldn't have saw it. A photo of a couple, but they weren't smiling like a happy couple they were looking at something in terror. Another swipe of the flashlight across the area, and with it she was rewarded with another group of photos.

Lydia gathered a few and shined the flashlight at them, a teenage girl, American such as herself, screaming in terror. A feel of dread settled in her stomach and a chill swept through her. She switched it to the back and found a photo of the same girl with atrocious mutilations done to her body. Was she the only one who had seen these, God curiosity killed the cat for a reason.

_Bang._

The door in which was left open earlier slammed shut and Lydia freaked. She usually wasn't afraid of things, not after _him._ Murder pictures; fell on another level of scary. This wasn't something she needed to experience, at all.

_'I think I'd rather take Betelgeuse then this.'_

She tried to calm herself and walked back to the door, trying to assure herself it was just the wind. The door didn't open.

"Dammit, God Lydia, get some normal hobbies for crying out loud." She muttered.

The flashlight went out.

…

**That took a way different route than expected. I promise you this will be the only horrific chapter there is, because this is not supposed to scare people, but this terrified me typing it for you. I guess it's bad luck for breaking Beetlejuice. I got the movie from a relative and went to pull it out of the case and it broke. I felt like an idiot and a cruel person. :*( **

**Thanks reviewers, I'll credit you next time with little happy responses. Hopefully I'll update sooner.**

**BTW: I don't own Beetlejuice or have any idea what exists in Hawaii.**

**P.S. IF anyone can guess what the pack of ghosts are then you get some virtual cookies. THEY ARE TRIBAL… Not Voodoo, but related. Based on my new other obsession other than Beetlejuice.**

**WAIT: **_Hint: "Good evening, Clarice."_ **Figure out the movie, figure out the antagonists thing, then you'll know what the pack of ghosts are. **

**INFORM ME OF MISTAKES MADE IN CHAPTERS NO MATTER HOW HARSH YOUR REVIEW IS!**


	4. Chapter 4

**SKIP THE AUTHOR NOTE IF YOU DIDN'T REVIEW**

**Hey kitties:** Virtual cookies for wolfmoonsshadow and Wolvie'sBiggestFan and a happy face drawn on a cat. That was it, for those evil enough look at their reviews for the answer, or keep reading into this chapter where it will be revealed.

**Review Responses: **

**ComicCartoonFreak13:** AHHHHHH, pressure. You're compliment is great, but now I feel like I'm going to screw up. TY!

**Wolvie'sBiggestFan: **Yeah, it'll be great for Lydia too! Don't forget, she can see them easily.

**Nucking Fut Cass: **Love your name, I thought it was cuss words at first, and here's your update, after all of you are dead.

**D:** Neither did I, I didn't really think Beej, would settle in Hawaii, less it was forced and for fun I added something spicy to make it cool.

**Wolfmoonsshadow**: Firstly, um, I don't know anything about German Expressionism, but I do know how to turn something creepy. Secondly, yeah, that movie was great, but I thought I could blood and watched Saw clips. I was out of it for a while.

**LET'S GET ON WITH THE CHAPTER, **but now you all scared me and I'm afraid I'll mess up. _Livin la Vida Loca inspired the chapter._

* * *

The pack of ghosts had left him alone for a while; probably checking out the Deetz's seeing what they were doing. Betelgeuse had settled for drifting up to Lydia's room and poking through her stuff. They said he couldn't work with electronics, but they never said anything about turning them on. He started snickering at the song that came on, but he left it on the song.

"Can't touch this, yeah right Lydia; wish that Sandworm couldn't touch this." Betelgeuse muttered, and let the song stay on as he looked through her boxes. Later he would tell the other ghosts this room was off limits to them, and was his territory. That kid was his, or at least she should have been. Now, she was a woman, and a pretty one at that. He'd still tap that.

There wasn't really much, but he had a fun time making a stack of boxes _accidentally_ fall over. The shattering noise pleased him. He switched the annoying radio off, and went back to messing up her room. Humming under his breath, he dumped the box with clothes in it upside down. Grinning, he stuffed a few things of hers in his coat pockets. Turns out, there were a lot of things he could do with limited powers.

Betelgeuse checked over the list, to find something added.

_Note from Juno: That's repulsive Geuse, stop poking through her stuff. Go see what those ghosts are up to. _

He rolled his eyes, and went back to shifting through a box labeled, "Breakable's." A small shock came from the pocket with the list in it. What the hell. Looking at the new note, he stood and exited Lydia's attic room muttering under his breath.

_NFJ: Get out before I tell them that the people from your past are at your haunting location. Those ghosts are up to no good, I think there is an underground connection that connects buildings to each other._

Drifting through walls, he passed ole Chuck who had a floor plan of the entire building, and was jotting down specific things in certain areas. Through another wall, and he saw Delia working on a sculpture with pencils sticking out of the top like a demented porcupine. Tempting to screw with, but Juno was too cranky to deal with his scheming.

Turns out, the building was big enough that it took him another thirty to find the damn pack of the ghosts, or at least two of them. He thought their names were Mark and Greg, and upon examination, it was them. Not being subtle or even polite, he asked them directly.

"What're you doing, Juney wants to know?"

They looked at him from where they sat on the floor in front of a door. Their eyes were uncertain, but they answered anyway.

"Trevor told us to keep an eye on the people here while he went out for a little fresh air." Greg said.

Betelgeuse gave them an incredulous look.

"You can't go outside, there's Sandworms."

Mark shrugged.

"It doesn't bother him, he sorda likes them."

That was the most damn thing Betelgeuse had ever heard.

"Where are the others besides him?"

"With him," the two said in unison.

"Well I'll be damned." Betelgeuse muttered, stalking past the ghosts. They're keeping secrets, which wasn't surprising, but Hell if he was going to accept them. No one liked Sandworms, except Sandworm Man, and he stopped liking them after he was eaten by one.

He needed to figure out the layout of this building quickly; he had no will to drift around pointlessly to figure out where anything was. Retracing his earlier path, he went to where Chuck had been examining the floor plan of the building. Sitting on the edge of Chuck's desk he looked at the plan, too many floors and too many doors that those ghosts could be roaming in. That was, until Chuck let his hand fall on the basement floor.

"Delia!"

From the neighboring room, "Yes Charles, what is it?"

"Have you checked out the basement? I need to see if it's finished or needs work."

"No, have Lydia check it out, I hate basements."

Rolling his eyes, Charles exited the room, and made his way up to the attic. Betelgeuse watched him go; it would be horrible for poor ole Chuck to walk three flights of stairs to find out his daughter wasn't home, oh well. In the meantime, the basement seemed to be the perfect place for those old creepers to hang out.

Examining the floor plan, he found the door that those ghosts had been sitting in front of, was the only way to the basement. It didn't make sense for whoever designed the building to make it where you would go through the middle of the building and down three flights of stairs to reach a basement.

Betelgeuse let his feet hit the floor and stalked back to the ghosts that were still sitting in front of the door. They gave him a questioning look, and as soon as he went for the doorknob, they shot up.

"Move dammit, I'm going to explore the basement."

They pushed him back, both of their expressions darkening. No longer did they look friendly, both had hard expressions.

"Trevor says you're not allowed in our basement."

Betelgeuse didn't care shit what Trevor said, he was stuck under Juno's command and his own curiosity, and he wanted to examine the damn basement.

"Well, I want to get a little looksee in the basement, so move. Juno told me to, and I have to follow her orders."

Mark growled, it echoed eerily off the walls. The Ghost with the Most stepped back uneasily; he was sensing a growing fight.

"We don't follow Juno, we don't follow you. You said you played dirty, well so do we, but unlike you, we have all of our powers." Greg snarled, his voice was lower than average.

Betelgeuse brushed off his suit, and straightened up, using his best threatening glare and "I'm serious," expression.

"I don't want any trouble; I just want to look in the basement." Betelgeuse stated sincerely, keeping his voice calm.

He made to open the door, and that was when both ghosts attacked him. It was a vicious struggle, but Betelgeuse was no stranger to fighting, and he quickly drifted through the floor to avoid them, they followed, but not as quickly.

The men, that looked nowhere near tribal, now looked everything tribal. Both men shared expressions of anger and…hunger, their stances identical and they bared their teeth. Betelgeuse was angry, angry that Juno had taken away his powers, angry he was about to be beaten the crap out of because he couldn't defend himself, angry that he was sharing territory with a bunch of lunatics.

They lunged again, and Betelgeuse was tackled to the ground. It was mostly punching, hissing, spitting, and kicking, until…one of the ghosts (Mark) tried to rip out Betelgeuse's throat with his teeth. That was the last straw for Betelgeuse; he shot up and pulled the ghosts away from him.

"What the fuck, did you try to bite me?"

Mark and Greg straightened up, the anger gone from their eyes, and Betelgeuse soon learned why.

"They did, because there was this one little thing we didn't tell you."

Betelgeuse whipped around to face Trevor. The other ghosts stood behind him, all of them grinning.

"We're cannibals, and you're in _our_ territory."

**…-:-:-*-:-:-… **

Lydia stumbled, and cursed, banging her flashlight on her hand. It didn't turn on, leaving her in the pitch black room. She yanked on the door, and growled in frustration when it didn't turn on.

"No, no, no, no, no, somebody help me." She muttered.

Then, she remembered the boys outside the building, spray painting the side of it. She screamed for help.

"Help, stuck in demented building with murder photos." Lydia shouted that however crazy it sounded, because it was true, and would get attention.

There was no response and she cursed, kicking the door. Idiots probably ran off.

Leaning against the door, she turned back to face the room, to find a ghost standing in front of her. It was the girl from the photograph.

"Can you see me?"

Lydia nodded.

"I wasn't sure; I mean… what are you doing here?"

Lydia gave the girl a curious glance, seeing the bite marks that lined her body, and the shredded clothing.

"I was taking photographs, I like spooky places, and then this spooky place shut me in,"

The girl nodded, and walked towards Lydia.

"That door always closes, _they_ always close it." The girl paused, shuddering. "Did you see the photographs on the floor?"

Lydia wanted to ask who _they_ were, but refrained and answered the girl's question.

"Yes, were you the girl in the before and after one?"

The girl nodded, looking down.

"I was one of them, the others left… well not exactly left … I just made a deal with _them_ and they left me alone."

Lydia gave her a questioning glance.

"Who are them?"

Suddenly, the girl gave a sharp jerk.

"Wait, you can see ghosts and summon them?"

"Sort of, I've only summoned one."

The girl's eyes resembled the full moon; they were glowing intensely, and were extremely wide.

"You need to get out of here, they don't react well to psychic mortals, your power attracts them."

Lydia stared.

"What…?"

The door she came in swung open, making her fall. It was one of the boys from the group she saw vandalizing the building. They stared at her.

"Were you the one screaming for help?"

Lydia pulled herself up, giving a brief glance in the direction of the ghost, to see she had left. She turned to the boy.

"Yeah, my flashlight went out, and the door slammed shut."

The boy shifted, and rubbed the back of his neck.

"Well, um, I opened the door."

Lydia nodded, feeling awkward.

"Yeah, thanks…do you want money for opening the door."

The boy thought about it.

"How about a date, you don't look much younger than me."

Lydia thought about it, the guy looked to be only nineteen or twenty.

"Sure, but only one."

She walked past him, glad to be out of the building. He followed her though, not yet done.

"Hey, um, where do you want to meet for the date, and does tomorrow sound fine?"

Lydia shrugged, "Sure."

The boy still followed her.

"And, did you say you saw murder photos."

"Yeah, but I don't really want to go get them."

The boy nodded, and then turned back to where his group was at.

"I need to get going, see you tomorrow at three?"

"That's fine with me."

Lydia continued walking home, the murder photos, and _they_ stuck on her head.

...-:-:-*-:-:-…

Trevor titled his head to the side, examining Betelgeuse.

"I hear you wanted to go into the basement, that's understandable, but it's off limits. You keep away from it, and we'll give you that attic space you seem to love."

Betelgeuse nodded, not willing to take on all of the ghosts, much less one. He would settle for keeping the attic space, and would leave the basement to them. Unlike most murderer's, Cannibals were still dangerous in death. They would still eat other ghost's and kill mortals.

"Alright, I'll stay off your turf. I don't want another fight."

Trevor grinned, and patted Betelgeuse on the shoulder as he and his group walked past.

"Keep any mortals you want alive out of the basement to, you seem to like the young woman. Keep her out of our territory, or she'll be dead."

Betelgeuse watched them walk away, and for once in his afterlife, he was truly defeated. No powers, just great, he couldn't do shit to these ghosts.

For once in his after life, he felt fear, fear of his own death (exorcism), and maybe, just maybe, fear for Lydia's safety. In honesty, she was a beautiful young woman and his _only_ way out, she dies, then he's screwed.

…

* * *

**I hope I didn't ruin the story, because my writing style might have changed. Okay, I told you there would be no more scary chapters. A bit of a white lie, I didn't realize that Cannibals were so vicious. In my head, Betelgeuse would be able to stand up to them without powers. On paper, they tried to eat him, and in a few drafts succeeded. **

**Don't worry, he won't stay second best for long, Lydia and him will team up to save the town. **

**(Actually, in a few drafts of the script and ideas of the first and second movie, they were supposed to team up, but eventually those ideas were rejected for the hate/love idea.)**

**I took the rejected idea of the two needing to team up, have something to say about this chapter, or the idea of them teaming up…**

**TYPE IN YOUR REVIEW!**


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